The Rockets will run some <i>Pick n' Roll</i> plays, but are they getting full value from them? <p> <center> </center> In this version, Eddie & Steve do the pick 'n roll (white circles) and then Steve dribbles to the top of the three point arc and Eddie releases toward the basket (yellow circles). The two key defensive players start as the pink circles and then become the red circles as they force Steve out high on the arc. How often do you see an attempt made by Steve (or Moochie when running a pick 'n roll) to get the ball to Eddie after he releases toward the basket? Very seldom........ is it because the defense is that smothering to prevent the pass or is the guard reluctant to give up control of the ball? Eddie is 6'10 and athletic, so he should be able to snare any decent pass in his direction since his defender often follows the guard and leaves Eddie open. After getting ignored enough times, Eddie (or other pick setter) seems to lose interest in going toward the basket since the pass seldom comes. Overall, the Rockets seem to not always realize full value on their pick 'n roll plays. Another play that I watch with interest is the Yao postup on the left block with an <i> Around the World</i> spacing by the other players. Basic play that was in the gameplan for Dream and Charles. Nothing new there. <center> <p> </center> Rockets players represented by yellow circles with the defenders being red circles. With Yao's height and court sense, he is able to pass back to Cat on the opposite side (blue line). Then a three point shot is usually attempted. Several years ago, Carlos Rogers used to get some easy baskets by making a quick cut to the basket and the other players would find him with the pass. Couldn't Eddie also make the cut to the basket (yellow line) and get a quick strike (blue line) pass from the player (Cat/Rice/Posey etc) that got the long pass from Yao? A high percentage shot should be possible from the cut to the basket and Yao will be crashing from the weak side to clean up anything missed.
cool pictures. I hope it's because of the defense. Eddie is athletic and could take it to the rim strong if he is able to take that step, like his charge in that play with no defender on him.
we should run pick and roll with Rice and Yao. or Rice and Francis. Anything with rice getting an open shot is killer
Have you ever seen Eggie catch a pass in traffic and bring it to the hole? I may be wrong, but I doubt Eggie knows the meaning of "take it to the rim strong."
In the 1st play,I think the defense is tight on Francis and not so much on Griffin but it shouldn't be too difficult to get him the ball. I get the impression that Francis or Moochie just don't have enough confidence in him. I really like the second play very much.Eddie can certainly get a good pass and score if he cuts to the basket but I always expect Mobley to shoot in that position.Posey probably is the only person who would pass the ball down to him.
If I understand the first play correctly, the screener is faking the pick and "slipping the screen". For whatever reason, none of the Rockets slip a screen and roll to the basket. I think maybe I saw MoT do it once. Where in h did the "EGG-ie" come from?
I didnt know the Rockets used PLAYs, I just thaught they went out there and did their thing!! This is the only explaination that I can come up with that explains why street ball is the order of the day!
The first play seems like it should work as long as the defense commits. The only thing about the second play that scares me is the initial pass out to Cat. Those passes across the middle get picked off a bunch. Not always but that seems like a fairly easy play if used often for the defensive player to show one way and then play the passing lane and then go for the steal on that first pass.
Nice plays. Well yeah. There are so many times when defense just doubles Francis. And Griffin's left wide open. But Francis doesn't pass. Griffin is calling for the ball......but doesn't get it. I think it will work out better next season if we don't trade Francis or Griffin. Then Griffin can get stronger and HOPEFULLY IMPROVE HIS SHOT. Then the pick and roll will work wonderfully... And when Francis does pass to Griffin....he usually misses. But in the beginning of the game..I think they should try to get Griffin involved early because that's pretty much when he scores all his points. He has to have a good start in order for the Rockets to win.... And yeah. The 2nd play is nice. But many defenders are just hiding and when Yao passes to Mobley.....this guy just pops out and gets the steal and goes on for a dunk. Teams like spend their whole practice on how to defend Yao.
Very nice draw-up of the plays! You guys are right about the assessment of the plays also. Play 1) The guard (Francis, Mobley) almost never passes to the picker/ roller (Yao, Griffin), the guard sometimes takes the ball to the basket but more often takes a 15-20 ft shot. The roller has stopped rolling strong to the basket or stopped looking for the pass. Once in a blue moon when a pass was attempted, the roller failed to catch an unexpected pass or failed to complete the play because weak side help came quickly. Of course, the roller never had the opportunity to pass to a team mate on the weak side for a layup since the play never developed that far. Play 2) Yao either gets a good shot when not double-teamed or pass to a teammate for an open shot when he is. The guy who first passes to Yao does cut to the basket but does not do that quick enough or well enough to rub-off the defender to get the return pass more often. Afterward, when Yao swings the ball to an open man, he can not make the shot. Other times, the defense recovers and stops that shot, another pass needs to be made to another open man or a cutter but we almost never do that either.
this kid has got the pick part down pat. <img src=http://www.onlink.net/~craig/crut.jpg> (please delete this pathetic post)
The failure to pass to the rolling player on the first play is exactly what SportsCenter is so often confused about, though it's always with Yao headed to the hoop. Passing to a 7'5'' guy with good hands seems easy enough, yet Steve has frequently not done so. I can't explain why he would not dish to the streaking Yao, because even if the help comes that'll leave Eddie open near the basket to receive a pass from Yao. (In your diagram, it would be Eddie passing off to Yao if help comes.)
